Grevillea

Grevillea by the score...

Recently
I have been showing you
some of the gold
pink and cream grevillea
on my street

the grevilleas
are flowering profusely
at this time of year

there are over 36o varieties
of this beautiful Australian shrub

Robyn Gordon




Robyn Gordon
would be one
of the most popular
of these long stamen flowering
evergreen shrubs
that, like the Protea,
date back to prehistoric
Gondwana continent days

Lanigera Coastal Gem




I am bringing you a sample
of the many beautiful colours
and shapes of this gorgeous flower




and will accompany them
with a little Mary Oliver,
called



Why I Wake up Early...

Hello, sun in my face

Hello, you who make the morning

Canberra Gem




and spread it over the fields

Firesprite




and into the faces of the tulips

Mt Tamboritha




and the nodding morning glories

and into the windows of, even, the

Poorinda Queen




miserable and the crotchety -

Browenae




best preacher that ever was

Plum crazy




dear star, that just happens

Candelabroides




to be where you are in the universe

Confertifolia




to keep us from ever-darkness

Crimson Yul Lo




to ease us with warm touching

Formosa




to hold us in the great hands of light

Humifusa




good morning

Intricata



good morning

Kimberly Gold



good morning

Magic Wand




Watch now

Miniata




how I start the day

Nudiflora




in happiness

Paradoxia




in kindness



*

Pink Ice




Beautiful

Pink Pearl




Grevillea

Purple Haze

*

Mistletoe

*

Mistletoes

When walking in the rain forest
I noticed this beautiful orange vine
called the Mistletoe Vine

The vine is semi parasitic.
It is found in the forest canopy
deriving water and nutrients
from the host tree
and carrying out some photosynthesis.

But how does the vine
get into the higher reaches
of the forest canopy?

the Mistletoe Vine has this little bird to thank.
The bird is also named the Mistletoe.


Perched in the high branches
the birds eat the soft berries of the vine
which can pass through their digestive systems
in five to twenty five minutes.

A very sticky poop is deposited on the branch
in a fancy series of swiping movements
and from there the seeds can germinate spontaneously.

A male Mistletoe

The Mistletoe bird is the only Australian
in the woodpecker family and
is known as a flower-pecker.

The male has a glossy black head,
bright red throat and chest
and a white belly.
The female is grey above and white below
with pale red under her tail.


The Mistletoe birds also eat pollen, nectar,
spiders and insects to balance their diet.


The Mistletoe bird and the Mistletoe Vine
enjoy a fruitful symbiotic relationship.
Birds ensure the vines keeps growing
the vines provide food for the birds.



Nature is wonderful...

*

I will be absent for a few days,
hopping across the Tasman Sea
to visit family...



Happy Days



*

Little Cove Walk

*

Walking in Little Cove
Pre Moonbootitis...

One day I named this glade-
which really is just a pretty section
of footpath,
Bromeliad Lane

and the name has stuck,
you can rest assured
that when the Bromeliads flower again
I will be showing them to you
in all their glory...

Meanwhile I have found another
Powder Puff for you,
another Calliandra

but this time
looking semi circular in shape

The basket fern
Drynaria Rigidula
is often found under eucalyptus
in the rainforest margins

see how the older dried leaves
form a basket at the base of the fern

Many of you will be familiar
with the poinsettia
as a colourful
Christmas pot plant

Here we have the poinsettia shrub

I learned from watching
this busy bush turkey
that turkeys are quite partial
to the fruit
of the pandanus tree

Turkey has a segment
of the fallen pineapple shaped
and sized fruit
and is tearing at with his beak






Turkey has been here...
Setting cement atop a wall
on our building site
bears the marks of the resident turkey
who resumes his occupancy
once the builders have left the site
for the day






I love the way
that flowering grass

can do this...
when huddled together

we are coming down
to the ocean now
past the purple weedy vine

with spiral whorled centre

and vibrant orange creeper,
the orange trumpet vine
a South American Native
Pyrostegia Venusta or flame vine

to the silver trunked gum tree
standing majestically
on the edge
of the great Pacific Ocean...



*

A Tale of Two Tea Trees

*

A Tale of two Tea Trees at Tea Tree Bay

One of the beautiful beaches
on the headland in the national park
is named after the native Tea Tree...

But which Tea Tree?
You see there are two Tea trees ...

This gnarly old grandad of a tree
is a Melaleuca - a tea tree,
commonly called a paper bark

for this reason

and it is from the Melaleuca
that tea tree oil is obtained
Tea Tree oil is both a fungicide and an anti-biotic.

Tea Tree oil is good for tinnia.
Hands up those with tinnia...



When son#2 went to the school camp at Googa
he took with him a bottle of Tea Tree oil.
Unfortunately in transit the bottle broke
filling his toilet bag with oil.

Now Tea tree oil has
a very strong and pungent odour
somewhat akin to deep heat
and for the month of the camp
son#2 had to clean his teeth
with a brush that never lost
its Tea tree aroma or flavour.


I can't recall
the status of the untreated tinnia
after one month of camp...

The other Tea tree is Leptospermum
which comes in a variety of shrubby forms.

It is from the Leptospermum
that the rain water
running in little streams
through the forest and into the ocean
obtains a brown colour resembling black tea.

It is said that Captain Cook, on the Endeavour,
when voyaging to the Southern Lands
boiled the leaves of the Leptospermum
to brew a Vitamin C rich beverage
to ward off scurvy in his crew.



But now the question remains...
After which tree is Tea Tree Bay named?



And the answer...

I don't know
but would imagine that because
of the large stands of paper barks
in the bay
it is likely to be the Melaleuca,

but then again
when it rains the tea coloured run off
rushes down the hillsides in little rivulets
merging into a stream which exits the forest
and empties into the ocean
at Tea Tree..

so it could be the Leptospermums
that give the bay its name...


But whatever the origins of the name,
because there is only walking access,
it is a beautiful, peaceful bay
as they all are in the Noosa National Park...


*